the life in your years
by sophichka
Summary: and in the end, it's not the years in your life that count, but the life in your years. Vic/Teddy angst with Lily/Teddy undertones.


_**For Indy/augustmonsoon –Happy Sweet Sixteen :) Sorry it's so late!**_

_And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years._

She had been his first choice, the beautiful part Veela, the one that would be able to make him a true part of the Potter/Weasley family finally and forever. He swore to always love her, he truly thought he always would, so she followed him into (_what was supposed to be_) forever, happily and without question.

He married her, promised to love her _until death do us part_. He thought she was beautiful, strawberry blonde hair coiled around her great-great aunt Muriel's tiara, the long white dress moulding perfectly to her body.

They started out perfectly, they bought a small house in the centre of wizarding London, convenient for both of their jobs, his in the Ministry, and hers at Madame Malkin's. He worked late, although his godfather may have defeated Voldemort there were still plenty of people out there willing to ensure the Aurors still had work to do.

They had Sunday lunch at the Burrow every week, and dinner with the Potters every Wednesday evening. Teddy was still James' hero, and he found himself looking forward to the holidays, excited to see the young boy who worshipped the ground he walked on again. Victoire thought that it was adorable how well Teddy and James got along, she was quite happy to sit reading with Al in a corner, and muse upon what a brilliant father Teddy would make.

The only absence was Lily, the young girl choosing to spend every holiday in Romania with her Uncle Charlie rather than at home, expecting her parents to go and see her, rather than she go and see them. Victoire supposed that she had caught dragon-fever, and found herself rather missing the young girl with the fiery hair, with a personality to match. She had always looked forward to spending time with Lily when she was younger, she was a fireball, full of spirit and life, and she had that special gift of infecting everyone around her with happiness.

**X**

Vic started to notice the cracks in her marriage after about two years; Teddy would always choose to go out to the Leaky Cauldron after work, instead of coming home. She'd be waiting up past eleven, his dinner having gone cold on the table long ago. She didn't confront him about it though, worried that maybe he'd continue to choose his friends over her.

One summer she heard that Lily had decided to visit, and so one hot August day she visited number 12 Grimmauld Place, carrying a plate of cookies and a jug of homemade lemonade. Lily nibbled at the edge of a cookie, and answered Victoire's questions about school, Romania and the dragons with one word answers. Vic carried on trying though, thinking that maybe Lily was missing the excitement of living with Charlie and the dragons, and felt resentful to have had to come home.

Vic and Teddy had an argument, one hot night that summer; she was grouchy, stressed out from the heat, and he was working on a particularly difficult case. She was sick of never seeing him, and she told him so.

"Oh, c'mon Vikki, you know how important this case is!"

She had lost her temper at that, throwing him out of the house, slamming the door in his face and yelling at him to never _ever _call her Vikki again. She knew he would head straight to the Potters' house, and so she stayed at the house, curled up in a ball on the sofa, tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes involuntarily.

He came home the next evening, looking happy and glowing, a stark comparison to her tear stained face and unhappy aura.

She didn't know what had happened, and she didn't even bother to ask.

**X**

Vic knew that Lily hadn't come home out of choice that summer; Molly had told her that Charlie was going to be away from the reserve, catching a young Chinese Fireball wreaking havoc in Beijing, and as a minor Lily couldn't stay on the reserve on her own. Vic was certain that she wouldn't be happy about it, but knew that she also wouldn't kick up too much of a fuss, because much as Lily may try to deny having a heart, she loved Charlie, more like a big brother than an uncle, but she loved him all the same and Vic knew that she wouldn't want to cause any trouble for him.

She thought perhaps regular visits might cheer her up, but Lily was as unresponsive as ever. Vic tried asking her about Teddy once, but Lily slammed the door so hard as she stormed away from the table that Vic didn't dare try asking again. She briefly considered the possibility that Lily was so upset with her because she loved Teddy, that she stayed in Romania because she couldn't bear seeing Teddy with her, but she dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. There was far too much of an age difference between the two, and anyway, Lily saw Teddy as like another older brother, surely?

**X**

Lily went back to Hogwarts come September, remarking that it was nice to see them all "_one last time_," and Victoire and Teddy went back to their life of cold dinners and missed dates, and Teddy grew further apart from Vic and she withdrew further into herself. The hurt in her heart grew stronger, and the cuts on her wrists grew deeper, the physical pain easier to deal with than the emotional.

**X**

Scarlett turned her life around, a little miracle that Vic thought she would never experience. She was beautiful, strawberry blonde hair and a tiny stub nose, her features angelic even as she screamed through the night. She had inherited her paternal grandfather's eyes, and she was such a perfect mix of Teddy and Victoire that it made Vic's heart ache to look at her.

It was at her christening that everything fell apart, and everything came together. She should have seen it coming, once she knew she realised that had she looked harder, she would have known all along. Teddy was meant for Lily, the way that Romeo was made for Juliet, no matter what the constraints baring the way.

And when all is said and done, it doesn't matter what the age difference is between them, because in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

_Happy (late) Birthday, beautiful!_


End file.
